Picture General William Larimer driving his stakes into the ground here in November 1858, founding a city on land he didn't own. Larimer Street was Denver's first main street, named for General William Larimer — the land speculator who drove stakes into the ground at the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte in November 1858 and declared himself the founder of Denver City, on land he did not own. That audacity set the tone for everything that followed.
By the 1870s and 1880s, Larimer Street was Denver's commercial spine: banks, hotels, saloons, and theaters crowded the block. Oscar Wilde lectured here in 1882. Buffalo Bill Cody drank here.
Then the city's center of gravity shifted east, and Larimer Street faded. In 1971 developer Dana Crawford spearheaded the renovation of this single block, making it one of the earliest successful urban historic preservation projects in America. The string lights, Victorian facades, and restaurants tucked into original storefronts all rest on the bones of Denver's first serious block of buildings.